Why Can't TV Folks Keep Up?

A lot of gamers get upset about the way they're presented in media. We're all familiar with the misconception that typical gamers are male basement-dwellers who avoid the sun and can't maintain interpersonal relationships. That assumes that there's a "typical gamer" to begin with. That stereotype doesn't really bother me. Maybe it's because I kind of fit it. Something I do find amusing is how games themselves are shown on television programs and commercials. Almost without exception, they're about a decade (or three) behind.

A recent T-Mobile commercial got me thinking about it. The premise was something about people hauling around huge stacks of things (TVs, computers, books) to compensate for the fact that their lame-o phones couldn't replace those items. To represent games, one kid's stack had a Nintendo 64 controller dangling around. I'm not a great judge of age, but I'd guess that the controller was older than the kid by a fairly large margin. An N64 controller? Really?

Another great example is how when people are "playing video games" on television, they're typically freaking out with their controllers. The action is rarely, if ever, shown, and the accompanying sound effects are almost always from the Atari 2600 version of Donkey Kong (check out the clip below for an example).

Again, I don't get annoyed by this; I can understand how members of any subculture can nitpick when their interests are translated to television by people from the outside. I just think the way games are shown is pretty funny.

What about you? Have you seen any recent examples that have made you laugh? Does it get under your skin, or do you just shrug and move on like I do?